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Progressive revelation

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  • 16-12-2009 11:57am
    #1
    bakkiesbotha
    Closed Accounts Posts: 172 ✭✭


    As I understand it, this means that God reveals himself to man in the form that man is most likely to be able to accept / comprehend.

    So, God appeared as a primitive force to primitive man, a wrathful king that ruled his subjects by fear.

    Man then reached a point where this revelation was no longer appropriate to his intellectual level, so God revealed himself through Christ, with a message of love, sacrifice and a personal choice of salvation.

    So, is this it? Do Christians believe that the there will be no future revelation in which God reveals Himself in a more sophisticated or subtle way - maybe even dispensing with the personification / anthropomorphism?

    If so, this means that man will never develop to a point where the revelation as Christ is no longer appropriate to his intellectual level.


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    #2
    Slav
    Registered Users Posts: 789 ✭✭✭Slav


    bakkiesbotha wrote: »
    Do Christians believe that the there will be no future revelation

    No, they believe in future revelation after the second coming.

    "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." (1 Cor 13:12)

    If so, this means that man will never develop to a point where the revelation as Christ is no longer appropriate to his intellectual level.
    It was not "revelation as Christ" but rather "revelation in Christ". God did not reveal Himself under appearance of Jesus Christ, He became Jesus Christ. In other words, "remaining what He was, He became what He was not". So saying that "the revelation as Christ is no longer appropriate" would not be correct as it's not only humans that supposed to change as the result of Incarnation but the God himself has changed as well.


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    #3
    kelly1
    Registered Users Posts: 5,026 ✭✭✭kelly1


    bakkiesbotha wrote: »
    As I understand it, this means that God reveals himself to man in the form that man is most likely to be able to accept / comprehend.

    So, God appeared as a primitive force to primitive man, a wrathful king that ruled his subjects by fear.

    Man then reached a point where this revelation was no longer appropriate to his intellectual level, so God revealed himself through Christ, with a message of love, sacrifice and a personal choice of salvation.

    So, is this it? Do Christians believe that the there will be no future revelation in which God reveals Himself in a more sophisticated or subtle way - maybe even dispensing with the personification / anthropomorphism?

    If so, this means that man will never develop to a point where the revelation as Christ is no longer appropriate to his intellectual level.

    Hello bakkiesbotha, I don't think our intellectual level has anything to do with it. We could be brain-dead and God would still love us (probably moreso in fact).

    Throughout salvation history, God has been trying to convince us that His way is best i.e. that way of selflessness and love for God and fellow humans. While our intellectual pursuits can be important, at the end of time, they will fade away along with every other useless thing and only love will remain.

    Jesus came to teach us how to love and there is no limit to how much we can love when we are united with Christ and supported by His grace. Ultimately the degree to which we love God and neighbour on this planet will determine the degree to which we are united with God in Heaven. The more we love God, the more we become capable, through grace, of recieving God's love.

    Love is key.

    God bless,
    Noel.


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    #4
    bakkiesbotha
    Closed Accounts Posts: 172 ✭✭bakkiesbotha


    Imagine if the second coming doesn't happen until the year 4,000 AD. By that stage, people's minds will have advanced to a point that we can't even imagine. There will be a much wider gap between us and them than there was between us and the people of Jesus' time.

    Is it reasonable to suppose that God might look down at the world and say, that stuff about Jesus just isn't suitable for this audience. Nobody pays any attention to it any more. It is like reading ladybird books to a class of phd students and needs to be updated.


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    #5
    kelly1
    Registered Users Posts: 5,026 ✭✭✭kelly1


    bakkiesbotha wrote: »
    Imagine if the second coming doesn't happen until the year 4,000 AD. By that stage, people's minds will have advanced to a point that we can't even imagine. There will be a much wider gap between us and them than there was between us and the people of Jesus' time.

    Is it reasonable to suppose that God might look down at the world and say, that stuff about Jesus just isn't suitable for this audience. Nobody pays any attention to it any more. It is like reading ladybird books to a class of phd students and needs to be updated.
    I disagree.

    We have advanced in knowledge but when it comes to intelligence I'm not so sure. Certainly we've seen a dramatic decline in culture. Despite our intelligence, we still have major social and political problems. We live in a postmodern era where a utopian vision of the future has given was to a confusion and uncertainty. That's why we need to turn to God for help!

    Jesus' primary purpose wasn't to expand our intellect although He did challenged us to think. He came to expand our hearts, to teach us how to love. He didn't come to teach us philosophy, teach us new scientific methods. God gave us a natural intelligence for this things.

    Despite all our philosophies and political theories, we still have a broken society with crime, drug addiction, violence etc. We still haven't learned how to love one another and God. Scientific knowledge etc is absolutely secondary.


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    #6
    bakkiesbotha
    Closed Accounts Posts: 172 ✭✭bakkiesbotha


    So in 4000 AD how seriously will people take the theology from 1 AD?

    About as seriously as we take the beliefs that people held in 2000 BC, probably. Or much less.

    Does anyone seriously think that ideas like 'the lake of fire' are going to stand this kind of test of time?


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    #7
    BrianCalgary
    Registered Users Posts: 3,196 ✭✭✭BrianCalgary


    bakkiesbotha wrote: »
    So in 4000 AD how seriously will people take the theology from 1 AD?

    About as seriously as we take the beliefs that people held in 2000 BC, probably. Or much less.

    Does anyone seriously think that ideas like 'the lake of fire' are going to stand this kind of test of time?

    Yep, because truth will never die.

    I certailny accept what people believed to be true in 2000 BC.


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    #8
    kelly1
    Registered Users Posts: 5,026 ✭✭✭kelly1


    bakkiesbotha wrote: »
    So in 4000 AD how seriously will people take the theology from 1 AD?

    About as seriously as we take the beliefs that people held in 2000 BC, probably. Or much less.

    Does anyone seriously think that ideas like 'the lake of fire' are going to stand this kind of test of time?

    At this stage I'm not sure what your point is. Are you saying that we will out-grow the gospel message in general or the interpretation of phrases like the "lake of fire"? :confused:


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